Grand Prix Assignments Posted

[Itsirk]

They are online now - I assume that there may be some changes later on. Note that both Kwan and Hughes are out.

Ladies
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-136498-137806-35743-0-file,00.pdf

Men
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-136495-137803-35741-0-file,00.pdf

Pairs
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-136497-137805-35744-0-file,00.pdf

Dance
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-136496-137804-35745-0-file,00.pdf

[bladebabe]

thanks Itsirk for the links! do you know where/when the junior grand prix assignments will be announced?

[Lise]

Are these just prelimary (sp) assignments? I find it a little odd, that in Canada, Wing and Lowe are only given 1 assignment, while Piperno and Dougherty are given 2.

[Alexeiskate]

Is "Cup of China" a new GP competition or did it have another name previously?

It's nice to see that Trifun has been invited to SA and that Yagudin name is also on two of the listings.

[Emanfan]

Interesting: Plushy & Yags both at Lalique. Plushy at Skate Canada. Wow!

[HSF]

Did China replace Germany in the GP series?

HSF

[leap of faith]

Wing and Lowe do have 2 Lise, skate Canada and NHK.

I'm wondering why P&D get 2 and L&Z are left off totally since they are the 4th ranked team in Canada...an omen for that 3rd spot to worlds?

Also noticed in pairs they have Marcoux and Buntin with his first name being Jeff...did they have Buttle in their minds hehe.

There's some open space for Canadians pairs in China and Lalique. Perhaps Lee and Faustino if monitoring goes well could gain a spot or 2?

I keep editing my post when I discover something new.

Ferreira has two spots to Andreev's one and Fedor was the bronze medallist at Nats. There's also no Canadian at Skate America which was always a gimme since Canada hosts an event.

[A.H.Black]

Looks like this is the year for movement in dance. I hope the American teams are working - Hard!

If I were giving advice to any dance team this year, it would be, get off the tours, cancel vacations, do all the injury prevention possible, and GET TO WORK!!!!!!

[Ryan O]

Am I seeing things or did they mispell Craig Buntin's name on the Marcoux & Buntin entries--calling him Jeff Buntin!:x

Well I am glad that Marcoux & Buntin will be at Skate Canada,:) although I wish their other GP was Skate America, but oh well.

[Angel01673]

Originally posted by A.H.Black
Looks like this is the year for movement in dance. I hope the American teams are working - Hard!

If I were giving advice to any dance team this year, it would be, get off the tours, cancel vacations, do all the injury prevention possible, and GET TO WORK!!!!!!

I would think that being on tour would help with consistencey, as long as the tour wasn't so long the skaters didn't suffer from burn out. But they should be well rested too, it's all about finding the right balance, you want to work hard enough to get where you want to be, but not so hard that you suffer from burn out or injury.

BTW, how the heck did Scott and Dulebohn get 3 GP assignments?

[roogu]

Pairs are allowed to do 3 assignments even if they're not seeded simply because the number of pairs in the world is so little compared to dance and singles.

[icefreak]

Originally posted by Angel01673
BTW, how the heck did Scott and Dulebohn get 3 GP assignments?

I want to know that too. I would think that the US would be better off sending Don/Hunt to a second one, if only for the experience.

[professordeb]

I am sooooooo pumped!! I'm going to Skate Canada (work can just do without me :D ) and to see that Elvis, Jeff and E-Man, Jennifer and all those other lovely couples will be there .... I can hardly wait. How many days til then???

til later,
Deb

[jkl]

Icefreak, I agree 100%

[missflick]

So, are B&S officially pro now?????? I was looking forward to seeing them on the GP again. Oh well.
P&W got SA! Hehehe...I am very happy for you Americans:D
AY and EP at Lalique! Ooh la la...THAT should be interesting.
I hope that AY isn't coming back too soon if he is having surgery on May 31st....:??

[supersk8er]

That is TOO cool that Melissa and Liam got a SR. GP!! Not that they don't deserve it of course! They must be so excited just coming out of the Junior ranks and making such a smooth transition! I hope they do well!

[supersk8er]

Oh, one more thing, what are "seeded entries" as opposed to, "invited entries"?

[Mellow Yellow]

I'm personally excited that Melissa Piperno and Liam Dougherty have two assignments. They did so well last year and deserve some exposure. Two assignments was more then I thought they'd get, I figured maybe one, but also a Jr GP as well. I wish them the best, I'll have to write Mel and Liam a congrats email :) Looks like some interesting competition, thanks for posting all the competitors and comeptitions :)

M.Y.

[Ryan O]

Originally posted by supersk8er
Oh, one more thing, what are "seeded entries" as opposed to, "invited entries"?

Yeah it's kind of funny terminology isn't it?:)

"Seeded" refers to those skaters who finished within the top 6 spots in their respective disciplines at the World Championships. This means that these skaters are automatically guranteed spots on the Grand Prix and means they are automatically allowed to enter up to 3 times.

The "invited entries" comprise those skaters that are asked to fill in the remaining spots by their respective federations after the "seeded" skaters have been placed.

[supersk8er]

Thanks Ryan O! :D But it is too true, the terminology really is quite silly!

[Bryan]

Hmm, I wonder why Shen/Zhao chose only to do 2 events instead of 3. Looks like they would have been slated to be at NHK if they were to do 3 events.

[Alexeiskate]

I wonder is the Grand Prix events in Asia will be cancelled if health officials have not found a way to contain SARS by that time.

[Scott]

I think that this year the assignments were by invitation. Not sure about this but.....

[GEM21]

Alexeiskate, on the main GP page at the ISU site, there is a star next to the GP China list and and the bottom it says:

"Due to the SARS situation, the allotment of this venue remains provisional for final decision by the ISU at the latest by August 1, 2003. In the case that the event in China is not confirmed, an alternative location/venue in another country shall be chosen by the ISU and announced early in August. The skaters assigned to the Chinese event would in this case be assigned to the event at the alternate location/venue."

Laura

[Alexeiskate]

Thanks for the info Lara.

If the events in Asia are cancelled then I wish the ISU would consider moving them to Washington D.C. ;)

[bleu]

Where ie Skate Canada?

Edmonton,ALTA or Mississauga,ON...

the later is in a SARS zone too.

[Dreamer]

It's in Mississauga which isn't a clearly defined "SARS Zone"

[mskater]

Good to see Vanessa Gusmeroli back in action!

[Lark]

Is someone able to list the assignments? My computer will not allow me to access the pages! :( :( :(

[Roseline]

Originally posted by GEM21

"Due to the SARS situation, the allotment of this venue remains provisional for final decision by the ISU at the latest by August 1, 2003. In the case that the event in China is not confirmed, an alternative location/venue in another country shall be chosen by the ISU and announced early in August. The skaters assigned to the Chinese event would in this case be assigned to the event at the alternate location/venue."



They moved the Women's World Cup from China with only a few months to go, so I wouldn't be surprised if the ISU did the same. It depends on what happens over the summer, but another poster indicated in a thread about Elvis that he is not crazy about the idea of competing in China because of the situation with SARS.

[Ximena]

Here is a list of the participants, just scroll down
From FSU
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5521

[Lark]

Originally posted by Ximena
Here is a list of the participants, just scroll down
From FSU
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5521

Thanks, X! You are a life saver!!!!! :P

[Ximena]

I was wondering, if Cup of China get cancelled....will they move it back to Germany?? I mean it says that it would be relocated but does anyone know where??

[Lark]

Has anyone mentioned why Germany lost their leg of the Grand Prix?

[dr.frog]

Originally posted by Lark
Has anyone mentioned why Germany lost their leg of the Grand Prix?

A big part of the problem is that the Germans no longer have any top skaters in any discipline. They didn't even have *entries* in the ladies or ice dance events at the last Worlds, and none of their skaters in men or pairs came close to cracking the top 10. The GP host countries are guaranteed a certain number of slots in the series, and certainly there are more top Chinese skaters than German ones at this point. I understand, though, that the thing that really clinched the deal was that the Chinese offered the ISU a big TV contract if they got a Grand Prix.

[jss]

Interesting in the men that Weiss and Goebel get three and Jahnke and Savoie get two but Scott Smith and Johnny Weir get none. In the other disciplines there are some that get at least one. I mean Amber Corwin got one!

[Ximena]

Weiss and Goebel get three because they are seeded skaters. About Jahnke I imagine he is getting two for being third at nats. About Savoie, what happened to him at Nats was a disaster but he is a good skater so I guess the USFSA knows that and that's why they have given to him two events, last season he was the only American man to almost make it to the GPF (although it is true that Goebel was not there)
That Johnny did not get none, that does suprise me but I don't know how the whole invitation work, do they get a limited number of invitations???

About the other entries, I'm glad that the RF is sending 6 skaters and the six of them are very good.

[roogu]

I wouldn't be surprised if the USFSA decided to give more time for Johnny to mature mentally and not crumble as easily as he has in the past. After all, the kid is what 18? Although I don't really prefer his skating, he's got YEEAAARRS left ahead to dominate the field. I'm sure his time will come.

[missflick]

I think it is pathetic that the Cup of China has to be after SC. Could the ISU not place it after NHK, when the travel would be less arduous?:??
I also pity any skater who is assigned to those events like ES and J Ro.:(

[leap of faith]

Eman, Elvis, Jen and P&D are all assigned to SC and CC.

As well, Chengjiang Li, Shen and Zhao, Zagorska and Siudek, Navka and Kostomarov, and Tatiana Basova.

Long travel for all these teams in a week.

[bleu]

Phew...at least L&A are spared this big travel.

[loveskating]

I'm really looking forward to Cup of China...when it comes to things like this, the Chinese pull out all the stops, and that will be so good for skating...also just something different and fun!

For those who have to travel so far, try to think more about how you have a chance to turn on 1 BILLION people to a really high level of figure skating and go for it!

[Stevie]

Everytime I open an ISU created Adobe Acrobat document I get thrown off-line when I hit the back button. Does this happen to anyone else?